Photographers from Gaza Strip, Syria, India win top honours at Gulf region’s top photography event

Images of conflicts and human triumphs from the Gaza Strip and Syria won top honours at the biggest photography award of the Gulf region on Tuesday (November 11, 2025). The 14th Season of Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum International Photography Award (HIPA) honoured photographers from Gaza Strip, Idlib province of Syria, Italy, Oman, United States and India among other areas for capturing images that represented the theme of the 2025 awards – ‘power’.

Mohammed Salem, Jehad Alshrafi, Belal Altellawi from Gaza Strip received merit medal recognition from HIPA for recording the condition of the enclave under the Israeli military campaign. The top award winner from Gaza Strip was Ali Jadallah of northern Gaza who received the first prize for narrating the story of war-hit Gaza Strip to the outside world. Mr. Jadallah was represented by his wife who flew in to Dubai to receive the award on behalf of her spouse at the award ceremony in Museum of the Future (MOTF) in Dubai. Mr. Jadallah’s images captured the condition of Gaza as it prepared for the month of Ramadan as children starved earlier this year even as the Israeli military operation continued.

“Jadallah’s father and his siblings were killed three days after the Israeli bombing started on October 7, 2023. His mother relocated to Turkiye where she continues to receive treatment but Jadallah continued to remain in Gaza where he has continued with photographing the war despite problems with electricity, internet and food scarcity,” said his wife Doaa Elasawi who received the prize for Mr. Jadallah. She observed that photographers from the Gaza Strip have played the most important role in exposing the reality of Gaza Strip which continues to face attacks from Israel despite the ceasefire. 

The other group of conflict zone photographers who were honoured at HIPA came from Syria who have been capturing images of Syria over the past twelve years as rebels clashed with the now deposed government of President Assad. Hashem Dardowra of Syria was among the top winners for his depiction of the survival of a 14-year old Khaled who worked as an apprentice in a carpenter’s workshop Idlib when the the area came under bombing. The winning photo showed, Khaled emerging from rubble with bandage on his head with a defiant smile. Other winners from Syria was Ghaith Alsayed who won a merit medial for his photo showing a vegetable market in the city of Homs that grew around an abandoned tank belonging to the forces of the deposed President Bashar Al Assad. Chinese photographer Mei Yin also received a merit medal at HIPA for the photograph of the abandoned and destroyed city blocks of Aleppo that saw intense fights between forces of President Assad and the rebels.  

Indian photographers also won top photographers with Deepak Singh Dogra leading with the second prize in the astrophotography where his stunning images of the sun and solar flares. Drone photographer Shantha Kumar Nagendran won the second prize in the new category of drone photography that showcased his work that crisscrossed India.

(The reporter was a guest of the HIPA, Dubai)